Various types of apparatus have heretofore been proposed for separation of frankfurters or sausages which are linked together during manufacture but the proposed types of apparatus have had a number of disadvantages and they have been limited to certain types of operations. In typical prior proposed arrangements, means are provided for longitudinally advancing a chain of frankfurters or sausages and sensing means are provided for the purpose of detecting when the forward sausage reaches a certain position and for automatically activating means for severing the connection between that sausage and the sausage therebehind. In such arrangements, the sensing means usually comprises either a feeler element or photocell means and when the frankfurters or sausages are not uniform dimensionally or in consistency, it is difficult to obtain a high degree of accuracy with respect to the position of the cut.
In another proposed arrangement, as disclosed in the Gosling et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,875, sensing means as such are not used and a forked blade is provided on a reciprocable carriage, the blade being designed to enter between sausage links and to advance connection between a lead link and a link therebehind to a cutting zone. This arrangement might operate satisfactorily under appropriate conditions but with variations in the dimensions and consistency of the sausages, it would be difficult to reliably obtain accurate positioning and feeding.
Difficulties are also experienced with respect to the operation of the prior art severing means which typically comprise a blade having a knife edge which is moved through a path intersecting the anticipated position of a connecting portion between adjacent sausages. The blade may be reciprocable as disclosed in the Gouba U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,156,006 and 3,808,636 and also the Gosling U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,875. In the alternative, the blade may be pivotal or rotatable as disclosed in the Piereder U.S. Pat. No. 3,545,035, the Berendt et al U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,646,637 and 3,659,316, the Demarest U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,891 and the Berg U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,937.
In such prior art arrangements, the blades must generally be moved at a relatively high speed to obtain satisfactory cutting and when the sausage connecting portion to be severed is relatively tough, it may not be possible to reliably obtain satisfactory operation. The Mueller U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,039 discloses an arrangement which includes two blades operative in a scissor-like fashion, which has certain advantages but which requires a degree of accuracy in the positioning which is difficult to obtain when the dimensions of the sausages vary to a substantial extent. The arrangement is also complicated and the same is true of the various other prior art arrangements which because of their complicated mechanisms are prone to mal-functions and breakdowns as well as being very expensive to construct. There is also a problem in adjustment to accommodate various types of sausages and sizes of sausages.
An additional disadvantage of the various types of apparatus as heretofore proposed is that they are not usable for separating certain forms of sausages and, as a result, such forms of sausages have been separated by hand using conventional knives. For example, a common type of sausage form is one in which sausages or filled casing portions, referred to as "chubs", are interconnected by an unfilled connecting casing portion which is bound or tied at its opposite ends by a pair of metal clips with the outer ends of the clips being disposed against facing end surfaces of adjacent chubs. It is necessary that the clips be removed, especially when the chubs are to be packaged for marketing through a vacuum sealing operation. If not removed, sharp edges may result to cut through the sealing plastic and destroy the seal. The removal of the clips by hand is, of course, a difficult, time-consuming and expensive operation.
In other forms of sausages such as Polish sausages, clips may not be used but the sausages may be connected by very short twisted casing portions with the adjacent end surfaces of sausages being very close together. The automatic machines of the prior art do not have the accuracy necessary to perform a reliable separating operation in connection with such sausages.